How old is my Fordson F?

Details that might help: 1 The previous owner said it had a 4 digit serial making it a 1918 but I cleaned off the area where the no. should be and any evedence of a no. has been worn completely away. 2 Kerosene tank has a single filler hole and single fuel line hole.
3 Block is stamped on the left side with "1535" amd the ford logo.
4 Dash cast date is worn away and un readable.
5 Manifold is exhaust down and is "Kingston Regenerator" marked.
6 Carb is Kingston Model "L-D"

Things I don't know that might help:
1 Oil pan rail tapped? What is a tapped oil pan?
2 Manifold flush with head surface? Is that where the manifold meets the carb or are we talking about the flat surface on the block that the manifold mates to?
3 Mushroom filler cap? I have something that fits this description on the front left of the block but not sure.
4 Transmission break. I don't know what this looks like but mine only has one foot pedal that I'm pretty sure is the clutch.

Any guidance into how to further narrow the date of this tractor down would be a huge help. Thanks in advance,
Mike

If you could post some photos it would be a big help. However, I must assume that you would have done that already if you were able to, so let's start at the beginning.

It is unusual, but not unheard of, for the serial number to be completely missing. It is not, however, in an area that should see a lot of wear, so let's see if we can find that number. Follow the link below to go to a page with the Fordson F production matrix. There you will also find a detailed picture showing where the serial number can be found. You may need to take a small scraper and/or a toothbrush-sized wire brush to the area to reveal the numbers.

If you've read anything at all about F's, you know that there are few originals around; almost all were fitted with cannibalized and/or adapted parts at some point over the last 80 years. Thus, the majority of the details listed in your posting above cannot be relied upon to give an exact year.

One last thing: The transmission brake is not visible from outside the tractor. It was a safety feature introduced in the early 20's (the first F's had no brakes at all) which is activated when the clutch pedal is fully depressed. You may be able to see it (if you know what you're looking for) if you remove the footrest or belt pulley just below the clutch pedal & look inside. Consult the Fordson F owner's manual for more information.

Let us know what you find out, and we'll go from there.

-- Geo. D.

• Fordson F Serial No.'s

I posted pictures here: http://www.geocities.com/mcemond/fordson.html

I think you may be right though that this is a combination of many tractor parts over the years as the Radiator does not have the 4 rectangles cast into the sides. I do also know that the wheels are not original - that is a fact, so I can"t go by spoke count. Also the last owner said there were no holes for fenders indicating a model before fenders were an option.

Hope the pictures help. Thanks so much for your help!
Mike

• pictures

Was hoping that Butch Howe would see your query and chime in with his vast accumulated knowledge, but since he hasn't, I'll risk putting my foot in my mouth!

Right out of the gate let me say a few things: First, I'm by no means an expert; Second, Remember that advice is often worth exactly what you pay for it (i.e., nothing). Lastly, I'm not trying to nit-pick your tractor, just give you some info that you may not have.

OK, that said, I'm not seeing a lot of early features on this tractor. Yes, it has the early dash without fender holes and without the crankcase ventilator. The fuel tank is the single-bung type that was used through June 1924. I couldn't see the tank end in your photos, but early tanks were embossed with "Henry Ford & Son, Dearborn, Michigan USA". Tanks with "Fordson / Made by Ford Motor Company / Detroit, Mich USA" are post-1920, I believe.

Oil filler is indeed the early "mushroom" type.

Now that you have a magneto, the coil box is redundant. It is not the early keyed style, but is the intermediate "rainbow" type that was used into the mid-20's. You can keep it on there for looks (you can buy a lid to fit it; write if you need to know where), or you can take it off completely; it's up to you.

You already mentioned the wheels: The rears are the later 7-spoke style (and while I'm on the subject of the rear wheels, let me say I think that the seller is full of beans when he said in his eBay listing that the rears had never had lugs, that they were canvas-covered -- I never heard of such a thing!), and the front wheels are also the later style, which have a flange on the outside of the rims and have the later style hubcaps.

The rear wheel bushings are the later-style butterfly type and not the early round style.

The rear axle is of the later style that has grooves to accept fenders. (I think this feature was introduced in 1920.)

The drawbar is the later 5-hole type and not the early 3-hole variant.

The belt pulley appears to be from a much later N-series tractor.

The original 1-gallon gasoline starting tank is missing.

The manifold is a later replacement.

Curiously, the radiator topper and hand-nut, which were present in the auction listing photo, are missing from your photos; did they come with the tractor?

That's about all I could see in the photos; again, I wasn't trying to nit-pick your tractor.

My advice: Work with what you've got. You will certainly be able to make a nice project and have fun doing it. Don't worry about the year of manufacture. Almost all Fordson F parts are interchangeable, from 1918 through 1928 (and some even later into the N-series), so the concept of a "Franken-fordson" isn't new. It's still a good start of a project, it just isn't a pristine early-early F.

Hope this has answered some of your questions and not raised too many new ones.

-- Geo. D.

From what you have told me I think I can narrow it down to a 1920 through 1922. The tank did have the type stamped into it making it at oldest a 1920 and with the mushroom cap I'm thinking the newest it could be is a '22. Of coarse that's assuming all the older parts aren't off some other Fordson :) I plan on dismantling it and completely rebuilding it later on so I heard there is a casting date on the worm gear so until then I can be happy with narrowing it down this much. Thanks again, it would have taken me months to figure that all out on my own!
Mike

If you know who has those smooth front wheels and rear extensions I'd be interested in buying them in an effort to restore the tractor to its original purpose, otherwise, I'll probably just try to find lugs to bolt on the rear.

At this point the tractor is largely stripped down and I'm in the process of cleaning and rust removal. That might take a while.

Thanks again for all the info, its going into my tractor rebuild notebook for sure!

Mike

You got a wealth of information from Steve. He and his family have 20 or so Fordson F's, and they've probably forgotten more about these tractors than most of us will ever know. They were at the big show in Penn's Cave, PA, last fall and did an exhibition wherein they disassembled and reassembled a Fordson over the course of a day (Butch Howe gave the running narrative). ...Anyway, they're good folks to have helping you out.

Funny how these tractors make the rounds...

Back to the subject at hand: I looked through all the references I have and didn't come up with anything on canvas-covered wheels. When Steve mentioned golf courses, though, it made sense. Once the lugs were removed from a standard wheel, a bit of canvas would help keep the wheels from spinning in wet grass. Probably a home-made remedy that was economical for the owner at the time.

Don Clough is a Fordson enthusiast here in Maine and has a large collection of F's. A couple of years ago he was asked to do a special golf course tractor restoration for a celebrity; follow the link below to see some photographs of his project.

He custom-made the front wheels. Using an old pair of standard fronts that had rusted through the rim (he separated the rim from the hub & spokes to use them), he had a local steel fabricator roll the rims into a cylinder out of 3/16 or 1/8 steel plate, then welded a flange along the edge. A bit time-consuming, but those golf-course wheels are not easy to find. There was a pair here on YT a few months back; I think the seller wanted $200 for them, and the ad ran for a month, which leads me to believe that they didn't sell. They might still be out there...

For the rears he removed the cleats from a standard wheel. He custom-made the extensions using two halves of a rear wheel, with a strip cut out from the middle and welded back together. Again, these wheels were rusted through in places -- please don't use perfectly good wheels to cut down!!! :-)

Hope you find the info & link useful, or at least informative!

-- Maine Fordson

• Golf Course Fordson

Thanks so much for taking the time to look through your reference material for me. Everyone in this forum has been more helpful than I could have ever hoped for. And being my first tractor restoration I love getting all the help and advice I can get. Hopefully some day I can return the favor.

-Mike

I stopped by and visited with Don Clough this week, and asked him about the lugs on the golf course wheels he fabricated for Arnold Palmer's Fordson F.

You had mentioned that you have a metal lathe and could turn some if need be; as it turns out (pardon the pun) you don't need to...

According to Don, he used 1/2" stainless steel fine-thread bolts, one and one-half inches long, with self-locking nuts. He just drilled through the surface (or "tread") of the wheel (to see the pattern, look at the photos using the link in the posting above), poked the bolts through so that the nuts would be on the outer circumference, and torqued everything down.

That's it. Pretty simple, really, and just think of all the time you'll save (unless you like standing in front of the lathe, that is!)

Good luck with your project, and be sure to post some photos as you progress...

-- Maine Fordson